For about a year, Cleveland Clinic has built and tested an AI-powered chatbot that generates answers on supply orders. Over the next three months, the technology will be launched to the system's 7,000-some employees who regularly place orders.
Geoff Gates, senior director of supply chain technology at Cleveland Clinic, told Becker's the chatbot is designed for employees who are not part of the supply chain department but still order items at least once a month, including nurse managers and administrators.
By asking the chatbot about a purchase order number, it can pull information on suppliers, whether an order is open or closed, and if an item has been shipped or received.
If a PO is listed as received but the stock is empty, a non-supply caregiver can then create a ticket for the purchasing team to review, Mr. Gates said.
"We've talked about how could someone in nursing [who] is seeing a bin is constantly empty on the floor, how could they create an alert in the system or ping the chatbot and create a workflow that someone is able to respond to?" he said.
About 50 people have had access to the tool, and by mid-2024, it will be rolled out across the enterprise.